Ghana travels

During 1997 I took a trip to Ghana to visit Eddie Tokpa, a friend of mine.
Below is an account of my trip or you can click here to see photos.

Saturday 12th July 13.45 hrs- It seem a very good start somehow, I was at the airport and I couldn't even find the check-in desk. It was the first time I had travelled Balkan Bulgarian airlines and I didn't know who their U.K. agent was. Eventually, I found out that you book in with Air France, really I
should have guessed that as it was the same procedure when I travelled to Poland, and also on my last trip to Africa when Uganda had been my destination.
Its 1500hrs and I have passed through the check-in and I am now stuck sitting in the departure lounge waiting for permission to board the plane. Now the doors swing open and we are allowed to walk down the steps and across to the aircraft. As we get nearer I see a sticker on the side of the plane which says "Balkan Bulgarian- 50 years in the air". I think this refers to the airline, but looking at the aeroplane the slogan could equally well be applied to the aircraft as well.
1530hrs- We have been sitting on this plane for ½ hour now the temperature must be at least 30°C and the only slight relief from it has been afforded by a plastic cup half full of warm water brought round
by an harassed looking stewardess, At least now the cabin crew are starting the safety drill so it looks like we stand a chance of taking off before nightfall.
Its 1800hrs now, or at least its only 1700hrs in London, but I have just arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria. For my aircraft this is home but for me this is just a staging post where I change aircraft before reaching Africa.
I walk off the plane down the steps, across the tarmac, up the stairs, down the corridor, and on to the back of the queue for the check-in desk. The staff of Balkan Airlines seem to delight in creating delays. Every transfer passenger passing through Sofia airport has to have their passport and tickets checked at this desk before being allowed to join the next queue. After 20 minutes when I have reached the desk I am issued with by new Balkan Bulgarian boarding card, and I am compared to my passport photograph just to make sure I have not swapped places with someone during the flight. I am now free to join the queue to have my passport and Ghanaian visa checked, fortunately this queue is quite short and within five minutes I am through the queue, down the stairs, around the corner and
waiting by boarding gate six. The departure lounge at Sofia airport is not exactly my idea of supreme comfort. There are only five chairs for each boarding gate and by the time I get there they are all taken by a group of Africans. I am left with no option but to spend the next six hours sitting on the hard floor opposite the stairs leading to the toilets and in between the entrance door and the door leading to the telephone room. The wait is uneventful, I just sit and read and try to ignore the groups of armed
airport security men who keep marching up and down the room in their grey/green uniforms. Part of the time I spend talking to a group of friendly young people from Germany who end up sitting next to me.
2350- We are being taken out to board the plane its only ½ hour late which is not too bad as airlines go.
Midnight- Take off, Ghana here we come!!!!
1am- We have just landed at Malta international airport. No one gets off at Malta it is just a refuelling stop to make sure we didn't fall out of the sky before we get to Accra.
It is 0430 hrs and we have just taken off from Lagos airport, and I am being served with my second breakfast of the morning. The food is unidentifiable and I haven't slept all night but I am in a great mood as we should be at Accra in a few hours.
0600 hrs- I am walking through the doors of Accra airport and out into the bright morning sun of Ghana. I am surrounded by people offering to carry my bags (for money of course). I fight my way through them all and find my friend Eddie who is waiting just outside the airport. He has a friend with
him who owns a small truck. The three of us get in and we are off.
The two of them are talking to me but I am barely awake an d am having difficulty responding to their questions in an intelligent manner.
It is about a quarter to seven in the morning I am feeling much more awake now the bumps in the road and the way we have been swinging around the corners have shaken most of the sleep out of my system, we are slowing down now outside a metal gate with large spikes along the top of it and a tiny sticker on it which reads GILLBT. Eddie gets out, opens the gate and we drive in. Suddenly we are back in Europe, there is a gravel car park and a two storey housing block on one side with a separate one storey accommodation block directly in front of us. There is even a basketball pole and hoop at the end of the car park.
Annelies the guesthouse manager comes out to meet us. She is very friendly and shows me to a room in the accommodation block in front of me. It is really a very nice room there are two beds but only one of them is made up, there is a chair and a desk, a rail to hang a few clothes up and an en suite shower room. Strangely what attracts my attention is not all of these excellent facilities but rather the wire mesh that covers the windows and door to prevent the mosquitos gaining entry to the room.
8.00hrs- We have just left the guest house we're driving around in the truck looking for somewhere to eat. The problem we have is that at this time in the morning there are very few eating places open , and those that are open do not have any food ready yet!!
We eventually settle for a place that is modelled after an American fast food restaurant. Actually it is quite good. I have a full English breakfast, Egg, bacon, sausage, etc.
When we have finished eating it is time to go off to church, we have to be there early as Eddie is be involved in the service. The church is a non-denominational church, although it has a methodist minister and is located on a methodist church compound. The church building was fairly similar to what I am used to, the only real difference was the drum set and other African instruments arranged at the front of the building.
I found the service interesting and the people friendly although I am not sure I would learn much if I went there every week.
After the service we got a lift back to central Accra with one of the church officers.

Rather than continuing to give an hour by hour account of my time in Ghana I'm going to continue this account with the edited highlights of my trip.
A great many things stick in my mind but I only have space to mention a few of them.
My main reason for going to Ghana in the first place of course was to attend Eddies graduation service. He was graduating in theology and pastoral studies from Ghana Christian college and seminary, On the day before his graduation he took me to the students celebration evening. This was an evening of singing, comedy, and official presentations, there was also food and drink provided for everyone.
I suppose I should take a few moments to describe the seminary classrooms and accommodation blocks as well as I can remember them. The classrooms are not that different from those that we have in Britain except they looked even more run-down and cash starved than British ones, they also had the usual wire mesh over the windows, often in place of glass. The lecturers offices were arranged in a long wooden block, they were comfortable if not particularly spacious. As far as I could see almost all of the lecturers came from either the U.K. or the U.S.A. I was introduced to one from Birmingham!
The student accommodation was extremely basic. The students sleep on bunk beds with eight people to a room. There is just enough room for the beds and mosquito nets and not much else.
On the day of the graduation we travelled to the college and Eddie got changed for the ceremony. All of the graduating students were dressed in traditional costume (see photos). The graduation service itself took place in a chapel a little way outside of Accra, I got there by coach travelling with the students. The chapel was basically a lot of seats covered by a roof held up by four posts. People tended to come and go as they wanted depending on which part of the service they wanted to see.
All of the lecturers and students filed into the chapel singing the college anthem and took their seats at the front of the building.
The service went on for quite a while with different people speaking and giving messages of encouragement and exhortation to the students, then each student was called forward individually to receive their degree or diploma.
When the service was over Eddie stayed around to chat to his friends for a while, but I headed off to get something to eat and find a taxi back to Accra.
One of my most memorable experiences in Ghana relates to my trip to Cape coast. This area of Ghana is probably the bit that is most visited by foreign travellers. The big attraction here is the old forts at Cape Coast and Elmina. These forts were constructed by the Imperial powers to manage the slave trade. These days they are open to the public and guided tours are available. I went to both forts and I was shown the dungeons in which the slaves were herded to await transportation abroad. I also saw the quarters occupied by the soldiers who garrisoned the fort under the different colonial powers. All of this was graphically explained in great detail by our guides who took us over the forts and explained the historical significance of everything.
While in Ghana I had planned to visit the city of Kumasi but this did not prove possible, so instead I found myself taking a trip to the Aburi botanical gardens. We arrived there absurdly early and were the first visitors to enter the park that morning. It was a very relaxing experience to wander among all of the different species of tree, especially the tall palm trees, of which they seem to have imported vast numbers from north Africa.
Ghana is on the Atlantic coastline of Africa but the only time I saw the sea was on the day we stayed in Accra and visited various official buildings, we saw the Ghana museum, houses a collection of artefacts relating to Ghana's history and all the usual things you find in small museums, We went for a walk along the coastal path when we were trying to get as close as possible to the presidential palace. We were however not able to get very close before we were turned back by an armed soldier, concerned we might by spies or journalists, the two things dictators seem to worry about the most.
Next we tried to cross the central square in Accra but here as well we were turned back by armed soldiers.
My friend Eddie is not actually a Ghanaian but a Liberian who had to flee to Ghana to escape the civil war in Liberia. On a number of occasions I travelled with him to visit a refugee camp for other Liberians living in Ghana. What surprised me about this camp was really its permanence, it seemed just like any other shanty African town with its huts and dirt roads and outdoor, open air washing facilities. These people seemed resigned to living in Ghana for years without doing anything to improve their circumstances.
I can't end this account without mentioning that while I was in Ghana I took the opportunity to visit the neighbouring country of Togo. This was my first visit to a French speaking African nation. I was not able to spend very long here but I certainly enjoyed what time I had here.
The capital of Togo is Lome. Lome passport control is right on a sandy beach fringed with palm trees and fishing boats drawn up out of the water.
The rest of Lome that I saw did not look too different to Accra, It was a little poorer to look at and all of the signs were in French rather than English, but these are not major differences, I plan to go back at sometime to find out more about Togo.

Click here to see pictures of Ghana